General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: I hate when people pray over their food aloud in public [View all]Igel
(35,296 posts)We'd attended a conference at GU. We weren't in jeans and t-shirts.
We had a trilingual (at times, quadrilingual) conversation. English speakers were free to use English, Spanish speakers Spanish; French speakers, French. Everybody had good control of at least two of those languages, and sufficient passive knowledge of the third. The Portuguese speaker was given license to speak Portuguese, but put on notice he might have to explain in another.
It wasn't to show off. We'd switch if the dominant language at the time was Spanish, and fall silent if the French speakers had the floor. There were perhaps 6, 7 of us crowded around a table.
We got great service and while we didn't order much in the way of food or drink, nobody tried to drive us out on a busy Saturday night. Instead of poor undergraduates and foreign students the staff assumed we were diplomatic corps. On the way out, a waiter asked what embassies we were with.